


i can feel your heartbeat (can you hear mine beat for you)

by iridescentkippen



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Platonic Cuddling, Sharing a Bed, also i wrote this in like twenty minutes i had no time for someone to read it over, i wrote this while procrastinating to write the au i'm working on oops, ik it's short but oh well?, mostly just red being sad bc ricky would never like him back, no beta we die like men, somebody please give red a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentkippen/pseuds/iridescentkippen
Summary: when ricky shows up in tears, he and red end up holding onto each other as if their worlds depend on it. throw in a dash of unrequited feelings and you're in for a wild ride
Relationships: Big Red/Ricky Bowen (HSMTMTS)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	i can feel your heartbeat (can you hear mine beat for you)

**Author's Note:**

> hi friends! i'm aware this is very short but i thought i liked it better at this length and i hope y'all do to :) pls leave your thoughts and feelings in the comments ily  
> also this is mildly dedicated to the hsmtmts discord bc they keep on telling me to write lmao

Red hadn’t expected visitors. He was ready to turn on the latest episode of whatever shitty teen drama was playing on the CW and then continue to live tweet about how bad it was, but when he heard his mother calling down the stairs at ten on a school night his plans for the night were shattered. “Red! Ricky’s here!” Red frowned. He and Ricky hadn’t made plans that night, had they?

He looked over at his calendar hanging on his wall, but the day was blank. “Tell him he can come down!” He called back, still confused about why his best friend had randomly shown up at his house. 

He heard the familiar sound of his best friend’s footsteps on the old stairs to his basement bedroom, but the second he saw Ricky’s face he knew they were about to be in for a long night. “Are you alright?” His best friend’s eyes were red like he’d been crying, and it looked like he had thrown on the thick jacket he was wearing in a rush.

“They’re fighting again,” was all he said before he started to quietly cry. Red quickly stood up from where he was sitting on the side of his bed before wrapping his arms around Ricky. “I’m really scared this time, Red.” Red doesn’t say anything as he slowly rubs his best friend’s back.

“Is there anything I can do?” he finally says, breaking the silence in the basement. Ricky shakes his head, sitting down on Red’s bed. Red sits down beside him, glancing over at his friend.

“Can I stay here tonight? I don’t wanna be there while they’re yelling.” He puts his hand in Red’s, and Red starts to rub small circles on the back of Ricky’s hand. It’s a thing they’ve always done, purely platonic, but something about it makes the butterflies in Red’s stomach flutter and his palms sweat.

“Yeah, of course. Do you want to watch a movie? I can make popcorn,” Ricky rests his head on Red’s shoulder, taking a deep breath before answering.

“No, not this time. Can I just sleep? I’m tired.” Red makes a sound of confirmation back at him before slipping his hand from Ricky’s and walking over to where he keeps the air mattress. He picks up the deflated mattress from its ever-present spot in the corner of the room, frowning when it catches on something. He reaches down and sighs when he sees it’s caught on a nail sticking out from the wall.

“The air mattress just got a hole in it,” he says, calling over his shoulder. “You wanna sleep on the floor? That, or I can go look to see if my mom has another one somewhere else.” Ricky laughs quietly.

“We can just share your bed, dude. It’s not like we haven’t slept in the same bed before.”  _ Yeah, but not since my stomach started to do loop-de-loops every time I’m near you, _ Red thinks. “That is, unless you’re a wuss and you don’t wanna share a bed with me.”

Red groans, walking over to Ricky. “Shut up, Key. Oh my God, you’re so annoying,” He shoves Ricky down on his bed before lying down next to him. They both lie in silence staring at Red’s basement ceiling, neither one wanting to say anything. Red doesn’t look at Ricky until he hears him sniffling quietly next to him. He looks over at the brunette to see tears glistening on his cheeks, and he pushes down the want to swipe them away.

He scoots closer to Ricky, slowly wrapping his arms around the other boy. Ricky slowly shifts his way into the other boy’s embrace, facing away from him. This is more intimate than the two friends usually are, but it’s not like it means anything to Ricky. “Hey, Red?”

“Hmm?” Red places his forehead on Ricky’s back, praying that the other boy can’t hear his heart pounding.

“Thank you. I love you.” Red’s breath hitches at the three words he’s sure Ricky has said to plenty of people.

“I love you too, dude.” he mumbles back, but he realizes Ricky has already drifted off to sleep. He slowly pulls away, reaching to turn off the light. As long as the lights are off, Ricky won’t be able to see Red cry.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this extremely short little one shot! If you did please drop a kudos and a comment! I'd love to hear from you :)) If you'd like to you can follow me on any of my social media xx it's iridescentkippen everywhere


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